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During our stay in Timmins, we visited the museum, where we happened upon an art exhibition by an artist from the nearby town of Cochrane. The art deeply spoke to us – it used raw, vivid imagery to show the natural beauty of the North and the gut-wrenching reality of human destruction and desecration of the natural environment. The artist, Gunhild Hotte, had emigrated to Canada from Flemsburg, Germany in 1957 and settled in Northern Ontario. According to her artist’s statement, this art showing was “an act of atonement” speaking personally as a Baby Boomer, expressing her deep regret: “we have taken everything and plundered without mercy… all I can say is: I am so sorry – we should have cared more.”

At the showing in Timmins, we spoke with Gunny about her art and the inspiration behind the pieces. She invited us to meet her the following week at her gallery in Cochrane, Gallery 96 North (by delightful coincidence Jun and I were both born in ‘96!). Our conversations left us inspired by her life’s story, her amazing, deadpan sense of humour, her unrelenting community involvement, and her unflinching integrity and honesty to do and say what she believed. Inspired by the musings, art, and conversations, we wrote this song as an ode to this singular and incomparable soul from Northern Ontario. It is an anthem for resistance, art and life in the face of a complex and changing world.

lyrics

We settled in the North when I was a child
From overseas to a land remote and wild

I ran away from home when I was a teen
Studied visual arts with shattered self-esteem

Somehow I ended back up in the North
Cared for my ailing mother on Death’s door

And now I’m the last of our line to stay
And I am so old and I am alone almost every single day

I want to move out to the east coast in a tiny home
I want to drive into the water when it’s my time to go

They shut down the train to Cochrane
Can you hear the isolation talking

Here the trees outnumber people
Out here the old folks freeze and topple

There’s an apocalypse coming
But I’ll be gone before the culling

My generation polluted the earth
Soon we’ll be gone for what it’s worth

I want to move out to the east coast in a tiny home
I want to drive into the water when it’s my time to go

And I am sorry for our greed
Only art gives me release

There is nothing I can speak
Only art gives me release

credits

from The Song Of Ontario, released April 13, 2020

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Matt and Jun image

Matt and Jun Hamilton, Ontario

We are 1st year medical students at McMaster University in Hamilton Ontario. From July-November 2019 we are going on a road trip across the province to learn more about the places and people who call Ontario home. We seek to express what we learn, see, feel, and hear in our journey as a musical album, that captures some of the essence of life in Ontario.​
Page Art by Gunhild Hotte. ... more

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